Hairs are damaged by living environments (such as ultraviolet radiation and heat due to sunlight, and drying), daily hair care behaviors (such as washing, brushing and drying by heat using a dryer) or chemical treatments (such as coloring and permanent waving). For this reason, in order to coat a surface of hair and restore smooth feeling thereof, various measures have been taken for improving hair cosmetic compositions.
For example, for the purpose of improving run fingers through hair, softness, manageability and coating feel, conditioning agents as the hair cosmetic compositions are generally compounded with a cationic polymer or an oil such as silicones, ester oils and mineral oils. However, if the amount of these components compounded in the conditioning agents is increased to attain an enhanced compounding effect, the hair treated therewith tends to suffer from sticky or greasy feel after drying which leads to poor feeling upon use. On the other hand, if the amount of the components compounded is reduced in order to suppress the stickiness of hair, the resulting conditioning agents tend to be insufficient in conditioning effect. In addition, if hair shampoos are compounded with a large amount of the conditioning agents, the hair shampoos tend to be deteriorated in a foaming property as well as feeling upon use when shampooing.
JP 60-170601A discloses a novel polysaccharide which is capable of imparting desirable properties to personal care products such as hair care compositions.
JP 4-230614A discloses a hair cosmetic composition which contains an alkyl polyalkylene glycol ether, a cationic surfactant and a fatty acid having 12 to 40 carbon atoms at specific proportions to improve sticky feel and greasy feel and impart good touch feel to damaged hair.
JP 2000-143462A discloses a hair cosmetic composition having a less sticky feel after drying and an excellent smooth feel in which a specific synthetic cationic polymer is used in combination with a surfactant.
JP 2008-514604A discloses a skin care composition which aims at attaining a skin protecting effect and is constituted from a surfactant, a specific cationic polymer and a skin care active component, and further may contain various additives such as functional polymers, if required. In JP 2008-514604A, as an example of a number of the functional polymers, there are mentioned cationic hydroxypropyl celluloses (refer to paragraphs [0025] to [0026] of JP 2008-514604A).
However, the hair cosmetic compositions described in the above patent documents have failed to attain a level capable of fully satisfying various properties including excellent feeling upon use such as good run fingers through hair, less stickiness and good coating feel of hair after drying.